Most optimistic cities in Tennessee (Memphis, Knoxville: living in, cost of, health)

[JMT]

Gallup teams up with Healthways every year to study America's cities and their level of optimism. Not all cities are studied, and in Tennessee the cities that are part of the survey are Chattanooga, Clarksville, Kingsport, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville. Here's how they stack up this year.

City - score
Nashville - 68.5
Chattanooga - 63.9
Knoxville - 63.4
Clarksville - 58.5
Kingsport - 57.3
Memphis - 48.8

National average - 55.6
Nation's most optimistic city - Provo UT - 76
Nation's least optimistic city - Binghampton NY - 27.8

Click here if you want to see the entire study. I wish more cities were included in the study, but this is still an interesting discussion.

[Pam& Bill]

No surprise that Binghampton, NY is the nations least. I'm glad Knoxville is above the nations average. I love my Knoxville.

[SmokyMtnPeace]

I live in Huntington, WV, and I'm not surprised they are in the bottom 10. Hard to feel optimistic about anything when the city can't get it together, and it's been like that for years. More so now. The cost of living is low, but what does it matter if most jobs won't support a family. Add in the fact we are in a direct route for dealing drugs from the North to the South or vice versa. It doesn't help, and it's become the little "D" and I don't mean Dallas. I've always wondered why so many of the areas that do well or better on this list tend to be in the middle of the country or out west. I've not been west of the Mississippi, so I don't have a clue what it is like out there. I do know the cost of living seems so much higher out there than places like WV or TN, so I don't see how people make it. Makes you wonder. At least of TN's cities have ranked better than average.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by SmokyMtnPeace

I live in Huntington, WV, and I'm not surprised they are in the bottom 10. Hard to feel optimistic about anything when the city can't get it together, and it's been like that for years. More so now. The cost of living is low, but what does it matter if most jobs won't support a family. Add in the fact we are in a direct route for dealing drugs from the North to the South or vice versa. It doesn't help, and it's become the little "D" and I don't mean Dallas. I've always wondered why so many of the areas that do well or better on this list tend to be in the middle of the country or out west. I've not been west of the Mississippi, so I don't have a clue what it is like out there. I do know the cost of living seems so much higher out there than places like WV or TN, so I don't see how people make it. Makes you wonder. At least of TN's cities have ranked better than average.

The culture is different in the West. The economy seems to be more diverse with good paying jobs in healthcare, technology, and engineeering, etc. It also attracts more people from other areas of the US. The cost of living in places like Des Moines, Omaha, Kansas City, etc is below the national average. The weather is probably worse with extreme temperature swings between summer and winter as well as wind.